


destroyed childhood

by worry



Series: fragments [2]
Category: Ava's Demon
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Body Horror, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-14
Updated: 2017-03-14
Packaged: 2018-10-04 16:21:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,162
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10283003
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/worry/pseuds/worry
Summary: this is what will make him holy, this is what will make him Better, he wasmade for this.He came to be recognized as a doctor and he will leave with a perfect mind, perfect body, perfect medical position--it's all soperfect.Gil's purpose is buried in his chest, right underneath his ribs for safety, just poking out between them. His purpose is consuming, he is consuming, he eats and eats and wants and wants andnow:he's free. Just one DNA sample, just one scan, and he'll ascend.(What if it was Gil in the Gate to Paradise?)





	

**Author's Note:**

> prompt: destroyed childhood

"What's your name?" asks Six as they shake Gil's hand, cold silicone brushing against fingers. He barely shakes in response, barely acknowledges them; watching the crowd from the stage is different, and this is what will make him holy, this is what will make him Better, he was _made for this._ He came to be recognized as a doctor and he will leave with a perfect mind, perfect body, perfect medical position—it's all so _perfect._ Gil's purpose is buried in his chest, right underneath his ribs for safety, just poking out between them. His purpose is consuming, he is consuming, he eats and eats and wants and wants and _now:_ he's free. Just one DNA sample, just one scan, and he'll ascend.

 

"Lucky follower, what's your name?" they repeat, pulling their hand away, maybe they pulled it away seconds-minutes ago, how long has he been standing on this stage, how many years has he spent devoted?

 

That. Doesn't matter.

 

"I—It's Gil."

 

Six starts drawing on their pad—his new face, presumably, his new existence. Soon. Soon. Soon everything will be—

 

"What a nice name," Six says. "I understand you've been somewhat of a troublemaker in the past, correct?"

 

_perfect._

 

"I wouldn't say—"

 

"Not much of a team player, all alone in solitude, basically friendless. The only time people ever notice you is when they belittle you."

 

Gil looks out into the crowd. Maggie is watching him, eyes wide, mouth slightly open like Gil is a ghost, like he's something that haunts, like he's an _abomination._ Ava and Odin are towards the back, holding hands. They're staring, too, they're _staring,_ and Gil can tell that Ava is afraid (why would she be afraid this is his chance he is going to ascend walk right into paradise as someone new cut his old life out of his chest and Become and) but Odin is disinterested, beautiful heathen eyes rolling back and forth.

 

"I suppose," he says.

 

"The Gate can fix that," Six says. "It can fix you, and everyone who belittled you will regret it when they see this new, _astounding_ Gil. Isn't that what you want?"

 

For a moment Gil feels a pulse of fear in him, deep down where his purpose is. His purpose is Titan. It's haunting like the ghost that he is, the fear like Gil Marverde.

 

No. This is his fate. This is only the beginning.

 

"I... suppose," he repeats.

 

"Prepare him."

 

And like a nightmare, Prudith Loone takes him by the arm, hands cold and tight wrapped around his skin. Gil can still hear her words in his mind, the way her voice cracked and the way she snickered; _not everyone is cut out for Paradise... especially those who are lazy._ Well. Look at her now. Gil is going to be reborn (right that's it he's going to be reborn there's no need for fear the followers have always been there for him always always a l w a y s) and Prudith Loone is going to be stuck, reaching out to Paradise for the rest of her life but never grasping.

 

Her hands force his down onto a scanner. It bites him, teeth sharp. Titan doesn't have teeth like this, what a _stupid_ thought.

 

"Nice to see you again," he says.

 

"What?" she asks. "We've never met before."

 

"You don't remember me? We were in the same class together, took the follower entry exam together..."

 

"Oh," she says, tightening her grip on—Gil's back now, right around it. It hurts. It shouldn't hurt. "You're the lazy one who asked for help... and somehow got every answer right."

 

"Yes, I am..."

 

Prudith pushes him into the machine. Her grip continues, accidentally, and they're in the machine together _because Gil couldn't shut his mouth and be grateful for this._

 

She removes her hand and every part of Gil's body rings with pain.

 

" _Great,_ " she sighs. "I'll have to power the machine down—"

 

The doors slam. Oh _no._ Prudith desperately bangs on the wall, screams for Six, screams for anyone. They both know that no one can hear them. They _know._

 

She turns to Gil, hisses. "This is _your_ fault. I don't know how you managed to pass the test. You must have cheated. This is perfect: a lying cheater gets this treatment and _I_ get to prepare him for the machine. It's okay, though. Because after this is over... you'll go back to living your pathetic life, and I'll be looking down on you from Paradi—"

 

Her eyes go dead.

 

A tear runs down her cheek, but she looks _dead,_ dead, **dead.**

 

Gil backs up, pushes himself against the wall _on instinct, animal instinct, heathen instinct_ when he sees the lasers drop from the sky, from Paradise itself. He should be getting this. It was supposed to be _him._

 

 

 

OH

 

 

 

He folds his aching hands over his mouth—

 

Her skin is peeling off, elaborate patterns carved into her body - through muscle, through bone, through everything that composed Prudith. He can see the very inside of her, and it's rotten.

 

Still: vomit rises in Gil's throat, his stomach turns at the sight of it. Prudith Loone reduced to a brain and eyes and nerves. Prudith's shell on the floor.

 

Is this what Titan does to his followers? Is this what happens? Does Titan remove flesh and bone? Does—

 

 

 

OH

 

 

 

The machine attempts to wrap muscles around her, a new, fake set of skin. It drapes around her nerves like a cloak, like something to hide under, Prudith's essence devoured in a too-big skin. Where it rests on her head, the skin drags down around her facial features, leaving drooping (still dead) eyes and a mouth full of open teeth and gums and skin.

 

It was supposed to be him. It was programmed for _him._

 

And Prudith - she doesn't deserve this. She's rotten but she doesn't deserve this. Is this something to be feared? Is this a bad ending to the story? Is Titan the villain in the fairy tale? What good, loving entity carves open bodies?

 

It forces a mouthpiece into her throat, wraps the top of it around her mouth, but it only sags down to her neck. It tries to put ears into her, mouse-like, but they fall sad to the ground. It tries to give her new eyes, a new way of seeing the world, but the contacts fall, resting in the space between her exposed eyes and the fallen, fallen skin.

 

And then the door opens, loud _slam._ Gil clutches his stomach. Strategos Six takes a look at the mess that used to be Prudith Loone, until their eyes shift up to Gil, now sick, now doubting. They can do anything to him. It no longer matters. Titan is sick like he is, Titan is sick like the torn-out purpose inside of him, Titan is _sick._

 

Six whispers something, and pulls Gil out of the Gate to Paradise with one hand. One cold hand.

**Author's Note:**

> please tell me what you think, thanks!:)


End file.
